When it comes to promoting your destination to Gen X and Y, the media mix you chose needs to have balance. Small and mid-sized cities should be particularly interested in this combo audience, since these are the people you are most likely to convince to leave the suburbs to dine, shop, and experience cultural attractions and events they can’t get elsewhere.
While these generations span nearly 30 years (Gen X 35-49, Gen Y 21-34), finding common ground between them is not as hard as it might seem. Here are some things to keep in mind when developing your 2016 media mix for your destination:
Real Time Information. Because of the readily available amount of information at everyone’s finger tips, the planning times have shortened enormously. That’s why it’s important to be found when they’re looking for you. Make sure your paid search and SEO are up-to-snuff so you can be in the right place at the right time.
Social. While you’re at it, they’re going to expect to find you on social too. 89% of Millennials and 82% of Gen X use social media. The key is to communicate with them the right way on social. It’s not just about promoting dining deals and holiday events, but reaching out to them as they experience your city and engaging recognizable influencers that can help spread the word about all the great things your city has to offer.
Streaming Music. This is an important medium that destinations cannot afford to ignore. Though Gen Y is leading the charge, 75% of the population is now consuming music online. And not just that, according to Nielsen:
While Americans streamed more than 164 billion on-demand tracks across audio and video platforms in 2014, they streamed 135 billion tracks in the first half of 2015 alone – up over 90% on the same time period last year.
TV. Finally, while TV and Cable might not be the first thing you think of when you think of Generation Y, it is actually still a very good branding vehicle to reach this audience. According to Nielsen’s Generational Report, TV is still the number 1 spare time activity for both Millennials and Gen Xers.
These are the four essential pieces cities should be building into their marketing mixes in 2016. If you have overlap and happen to get some Baby Boomers to head downtown and enjoy themselves, wonderful. But focus on your core, send them the right message, and you’ll likely see a shift in enthusiasm for the city and an increase in visitors.
